Arsene Wenger says his side’s inability to cope with Southampton’s physicality is as much of a concern as the 4-0 scoreline.
Ronald Koeman’s men outfought the Gunners in every position as they deservedly routed their visitors on a traumatic Boxing Day for the visitors.
Speaking to BT Sport after the game, Wenger struggled to take any positives from a wretched performance.
“I don’t much take too much notice of the scoreline in my consideration but we lost too many challenges, they were sharper than us.
“We were unlucky on the first one [goal]. The first shot on goal from the right-back [Martina] goes in the top corner.
“The second one was a foul on [Laurent] Koscielny and that was the turning point but the referee didn’t see it, then we were exposed on counter-attacks.
“It’s a disappointing result but I have to say well done to Southampton. In many challenges we were second best. The referee let a lot go as well but when you’re not dominant that’s the price you pay.”
Asked about his side’s chances in the title race after this evening’s setback he continued: “I said many times it’s down to consistency to fight in every game and find the resources to produce top-level performances.
“[It] was a very, very physical game and this team [Southampton] fights for their life – as long as we couldn’t score the first goal you could see it would be a difficult game.”
The lack of rotation recently was clearly in evidence tonight. I hope we get a few back of the treatment table soon and a signing early on in the transfer window to help rest some players…. The only saving grace tonight was no new injuries.
Absolutely agree, add to that a heavy, wet field that I am sure took a lot out of our legs. Giroud, Ozil, Ramsey and the whole defensive back four have pretty much played non-stop for a month at least (if not longer for many) and it was bound to catch up with them. Can’t really fault Wenger for not rotating with the limited options he has right now off of the bench (though of course his not signing any field players in the Summer is a totally different story).
We play on the same field as the opponent and the manager is the one who is responsible for transfers, so can’t say I agree with you here.
mmm not to mention personally responsible for nobbling all of our players
We had 8 days of rest before city, then 5 before Sunderland, you don’t get that much time rotating. My guess is our players rated Christmas over PL thinking”we’re good enough to beat them even if we’re not 100% fresh”, and Sunderland’s just gave their best.
Oh please!!! I’m sick of hearing people blither on about rotating players – simple fact is ours boys underestimating the opposition AGAIN and seemingly being incapable of playing two games in one week!!!
Same old Arsenal. Can’t handle the pressure when there’s a chance to go top.
Don’t get the thumbs down…
At 1-0 it was a great chance to show some title winning character.
Instead we crumbled (dodgy goals not withstanding).
Just be glad that due to the incompetency of other teams that the title race is still open.
Also we have Liverpool to thank for beating City.
Well we were more than in the game at 1-0 (even that was a wonderstrike that shouldn’t have stood). At 2-0 (again shouldn’t have stood), as Wenger correctly points out, we were exposed to counter attacks as we had to get back into the game. Arseblog summed it up well, we were shit, but that’s when you need the referee to be competent. Maybe then you can scrape something. If he hands out 3 goals incorrectly it’s always difficult. Wenger knows this, which is why he was smiling in his press conference, he knows it was an accident. We’ve played… Read more »
Damn straight. I don’t even know who to blame for this
Blame yourself for trying to apportion blames.
I blame Robbie Savage.
and Michael fucking Owen?….the little you know what!…
Reasonably accurate assessment. Now sort it out.
Shame, yes, but let’s be fair – no team can be 100% up for every game. We were bound to have a dip, and given that Leicester lost today too, it’s not too bad. We’re still in second position, Leicester play City next, so we still have a chance to go top. The question is how well we respond. If we do well on Monday, the gloom will be gone.
… a big part of it.
Agreed.
But this is happening far more often than it should be. It’s also happening to the other teams though, so it’s not that we’re ‘particularly’ inconsistent.
We are Arsenal we do it the hard way. The same way we qualified for the 2nd round of of the champions league is the same way we are going to win the title.
O.k maybe the team just celebrating christmas i still seen v saints some cocky officialling especially certain goals from two and three but second in prem we missing players through injuries and tiredness shown in certain players today haha to much eggs or raw material remember the game v bayern at emirates coyg no more 4.0
Calm down people, yes we lost, yes we could of gone top but they were due to hit form, they’re a better team than the table suggests and we are running on empty. Keep perspective, we won the 6 pointer. Hopefully we get our numbers back up and come back stronger. Usually we go on a solid run after a beating.
We paid the price for being rubbish…it ain’t over though…COYG!
Well we should fight fuckong back
Agreed it was a mediocre performance from our players but I am surprised at some of the comments. Football is game and no team turns up to be beaten. It was a particularly bad day at the office for us.,but we pray and hope for a better performance. The lesson from today’s match is that we need to toughen up because we lost too many challenges, most of them allowed by the the referee.
But our spirit is phenomenal, That is all that ever matter anyways right?
You will get thumbed down because every comment against Arsenal is automatically thumbed down on this site. But I agree, all we hear is our belief and spirit but today? If we can’t play well can’t we fight well at least?
Then stay off it if all you want to do is be negative.
And gloryhunters come out of their holes, convinced nothing but perfection is good enough for them. Cheer up, it could be worse – you could be cheering for Chelshit.
We were shit, but it is just a bump, move on. There is an opportunity to make amends in two days, back our boys to do it.
Glory hunter is you being indifferent to a result that happens once too often. How can you just completely crumble like that after comfortably seeing off City??
After 2-0 the players seemed to be already looking forward to putting things right in the NEXT GAME and it’s only 55 mins gone. stuff of champions must say.
A result like this one time can be a “bump”.
A result like this happening with chronic frequency, especially at times when the team has a chance to move up the table, or top it? That’s not a bump, that’s a deep-lying, fundamental problem with the team itself.
If Arsenal have any hope of winning the league or the CL anytime soon, that problem MUST be solved, once and for all.
What’s your definition of chronic frequency? Genuine question.
Tonight was shit, but you know we can go top on Monday. And I also agree that there are some issues to be solved.
Chronic frequency is reverses (some like this, some better, some worse) happening just about every time Arsenal have a chance to either take advantage of rival slip-ups (like this loss and the loss against West Brom earlier this year), or otherwise make a statement of intent against a hated rival (the loss at Chelsea, the draw against Sp*rs when we were outplayed to the point of deserving a loss). And that’s just this year. If you take a look at all the years since the Invincibles season, you’ll find more results just like those in each one (the loss to… Read more »
Pach, mate calm down a bit. Its not easy. I dont see others capitalising when opponents have off days so why single out Arsenal? We are playing with about 3-4 first teamers out and 2-3 others who can provide valuable solutions. It is a testament to the squads thirst for success that they are where they are after continuous grilling fixtures and lots of absences. Think about it. We are challenging with flamini in midfield and campbell. To me that is a very positive sign. It sure is a pity wenger is denied his best players in a period where… Read more »
Desperately lacked answers to Southampton’s physicality all over the pitch. The reputation that precedes Arsenal as being a bunch of weak push-abouts worked entirely against us and thus we were never afforded benefit of the doubt even in 50/50 challenges.
The sight of John Moss simpering at any foul commited towards the Arsenal players made me head want to cave in.
Fuck everything tonight
Aside from out very bad performance 3 goals that shouldn’t have been is absolutely sickening! how can the premier league get away with that? I’m tired of the injustice! Costas absolute fuck up and Ramsey’s Liverpool goal! Where is the accountability ?! Tired of our very silly performance, after 5 mins and our 5 long balls into the windy stadium I could sense it. we can still be top after our next game and be very smug about it 🙂 tired of the injuries too (moan moan)
This is the reason we never really truly scare our rivals. Beat Bayern Beat Barca beat em all but still a result like this as an arsenal fan you feel is never far away.
Couldn’t have said it better myself.
Arsenal is a team capable of beating anybody, on any day. Unfortunately, they are also a team capable of being embarrassed by anybody, on any day.
“We paid the price for being weak”?
Yeah, Arsene, what else is new? This team has been paying the price for being “weak” every year since the days of the Invincibles.
The alarming part about it is, the weakness is more mental than physical. Something that was clearly on display today, regardless of how much you want to keep blaming the refs.
Until this team toughens up mentally and cuts out these “weak” moments completely, they will never be on the level they aspire to be at.
After the highs of the game against citeh it’s a shame that we put in such a timid performance but unsurprising. The good and the bad of the prem is that games come thick and fast and like the “hangover” from a midweek champs league game we seemed to suffer from being able to get ourselves going again after such a big performance. The ridiculous amount of injuries really doesn’t help and the lack of rotation could hinder us. As I’m from Dorset I have a big soft spot for Bournemouth but I hope we pick ourselves up and put… Read more »
Nothing like Mohammed Elneny though to restore our hopes of a first league title since 04,……Buzzing.
‘Some’ issues to be sorted out blog? if, after yet another year of a very open league, of coming close with a fantastic squad which plays to its potential 75% of the season and not adding to the squad, I’d say there were more than just ‘some’ issues.
We will see how serious our title bid is by how quickly, I at all any transfer business is done.
We don’t necessarily need world class players just some decent midfielders to help mix things up a bit.
I also think its time Gabriel got a run out ahead of the bfg.
If during the summer I’d been offered second place in the league just behind Leicester half-way through the season, ahead of Man City, with United in 6th self-destructing, Liverpool out of the reckoning and Chelsea just outside the relegation places, I think I’d have grabbed it with both hands.
In fact it’s not even half-way through the season, still one more round to go; could be even better after Monday (and Tuesday, of course). Or worse. Hope not.
Looks like arsenal got acrophobia for christmas. Ho ho ho
Looked like food poisoning to me….to many pies at Christmas lunch?
A long way still to go, and whilst it was a load of shit, I decided to look back at some recent title winners defeats.
City lost to Sunderland, newly promoted Cardiff and Villa amongst others the last time they won the league. This year it seems even more unpredictable and competitive than ever. We still have a great chance, but need to lift our heads again asap and bring in at least one in Jan, I still feel we have a great chance.
I will reserve judgement for after the festive periods. This was our hardest match of the three and it was away. We have two home matches now, while City have two away. January 2nd 2016 will give us a better idea of who has more grit and depth. I just hope City didn’t suddenly find their form because I’m afraid it’s over for us otherwise. One day I wish we could just count on our own consistent performance… *sigh*
Shocking and complete defeat. Full respect to South Hampton. Better team today. The fact we didn’t carry over onto the pitch the belief in owning 1st place hurts the most. The team was flat and uninspired.
I think we all have to get used to more competitive games from all the teams in the league thanks to all the money pouring in and lots of excellent players coming here (after Madrid, Munich and Barca, mind Bournemouth get double as much league tv money as Bayern, incredible). It means much more even squads and with the extra CL games the top teams squads will thin out more quickly. Its a good thing, no right for the ‘top clubs’ to be in the top four now. Good for Arsenal as the money teams Chelshit and Shitty suffer most.
You’re exactly right David, it’s the chequebook teams that are suffering the most – and it’s also because the gap between all their 30-million-pound players and everyone else’s 5-10-million pound players is nowhere near what it used to be.
Spot on David. We might be re-entering a phase where the title winner can lose 6, 7 or even 8 games and win the title as long as they don’t draw many of the rest . The last 15 years or so has seen the losses of the champions drop to more like 3 or 4. The PL has unquestionably become the most competitive of the top tier leagues again.
Man wasn’t joking about this Cohesion guy you know? He had a great game against City but didn’t turn up tonight. From the start of the season we’ve all had to accept that the squad we have. Since the injuries hit we’ve basically gone with this XI knowing there’s only so far it’ll carry us. This result could have happened sooner, but we had match-winners in form. Tonight the other players couldn’t carry the match-winners on an off-day and the entire XI lacked the required physicality. We have taken enough points from the top 6-7 to FULLY deserve our position… Read more »
Its the lack of a good captain! Our capt is honestly just not good enough and today again exposed badly! The ramsey/flamini combo kills ozil. But again I agree today was shocking all around not to much good anywhere period! If its me I’m putting the capt band on koz or cech and dropping mertashocking for gabriel Monday.
Disappointing and a little embarrassing but this season is crazy and we are in a good position. When people pay money for that bag of crap it is understandable for them to want answers and to allot blame onto people. But I think it is a bit forlorn to do so. This season is mad, we are in a great position and nobody will care about this if we win the league. We are in a great position. I think the club and those involved are better judged for what happens in January for sure but for the most part,… Read more »
We currently have a team that’s missing some key pieces, what did you expect? Perfection? They rightly took advantage of our weak points, it’s not a fluke, it’s tactics. It’ll only continue unless Wenger brings in adequate replacement for Cazorla.
Transitional play was too slow. They pressured us high up and crowded midfield. Some of our players were lazy did not do enough movement off the ball. It only takes two or three players to switch off for the whole thing to break down. I agree we need someone who can hold the ball with skill in the middle but also drive forward and provide a bit of impetus. Diaby alas would have been perfect. I don’t think Rammini are poor but Ramsey today was all over and the midfield crowded out. We need alternatives if Santi, Coquelin are some… Read more »
I agree but the problem is that less than 1 in 4 transfers is a success in their first season (half season in this case). So the chances of any transfer doing anything more than ‘making up the numbers’ is low. Fingers crossed we get the ‘the one’.
Write it off with a strong win v Bournemouth. Not much went well today but move on…. We have the best manager in the league, the best keeper, right and left backs, centre back pairing (on their day, cough cough), no. 10 and left attacker in Sanchez. I don’t mind that Ramsey fella either. Would die out there for the arse. Wouldn’t mind getting Wanyama on the team sheet just quietly… But fair to say there’s no point getting carried away this far out. All arsenal fans should appreciate the ride they give us. It makes the titles all the… Read more »
Sigh
The worrying thing is they keep saying we have to learn from Olympizagreb and we seem to keep reverting back to old habits. Poor concentration. Lack of discipline again. Some senior players were off particularly the ussually excellent Koscielny. Ramsey was poor in keeping the ball. Ozil and others slow with build up. We were not collected as a team. At a goal down during the half, we should have kept our heads and played tighter at the back, we only needed to claw a goal back first. Instead, we leaked two cheap goals. Back to the drawing board. Critically… Read more »
Wenger should make Wayama his number signing this January if we want to win the league,, now you see the importance of Santi, Alexis and Francis, when it comes to physical football,, Ramsey will never be a holding midfielder because he loses the ball so easily.. and i believe the players had hung over on over the Christmas celebration..
to be frank the best I was hoping for was a draw when I saw the line up…the players gave to Much against city physically and no rotation
yes the saints were very physical and crossed the line a lot of times but I still felt if we weren’t jaded we would have beaten then convincingly
we really need players back …it’s telling on our 2 central midfielders
Lots of contributing factors but most worrying the lack of patience that we could get back in the game. The hasty reaction to going one nil down. Champions league flashbacks.
In a weird way I’m glad we took a hammering. I’d rather lose 4-0 than 2-1. This is the type of result you can taunt the players with. When they get lazy just remind them about this result.
Bourmouth are in line for some back lash I think …
If Man City get their act together they’ll walk the league. We’re only in it because the better teams are not performing. Wenger’s pathetic excuses continue and coming hours after his bullshit about cohesion in the squad after only adding Cech to the ranks. Even with a full squad there are weaknesses down the spine of the team. Wanyama bossed it last night and showed we need a strong all round midfielder for starters. Wenger has forgotten what brought him success over a decade ago
“We paid the price for being weak”. But why is your team perennially weak?
Terrible performance. Good thrashing to remind our lads that there are no easy games in EPL. Now bounce back with 3-4 straight wins…COYG!